Salt stored in a tank at 500 degrees is pumped up from the base and heated up. Then the salt is circulated down into another storage tank. When the utility calls for power, the hot salt goes through another heat exchanger on the ground to make steam which drives a traditional electricity turbine.
Utility NV Energy expects to be drawing on the power plant between noon and until 10 p.m. or midnight since the bulk of its load is Las Vegas, said SolarReserve CEO Kevin Smith.
That steady operation through storage results in more energy produced over the course of a year compared to solar photovoltaic projects with the same power rating. The 110-megawatt Crescent Dunes project will produce about 500,000 megawatt-hours per year. A solar photovoltaic project with 110 megawatts capable of peak output would produce less than half the energy on a yearly basis, Smith said.
Funding for this size of project is significant. SolarReserve raised $260 million in private equity and $737 million in debt from the Department of Energy's Loan Guarantee program.
